Strong College Students has a history and story as unique as its name! The company was started by college roommates while they attended the University of South Florida. The original Strong College Student Founder Scott Bedell was frustrated with his “typical” college employment working as a server. His supervisor didn’t respect the fact that he was a college student and consistently scheduled Scott when he need off to study for class. Scott was tired of his typical college job and was searching for something more. He found that idea while helping a friend find movers to unload her moving truck; he was unsuccessful at finding a mover to just unload the truck and realized there was something missing in the moving industry. He decided to start helping Tampa Bay area families with their moving labor needs. After a few 1 man jobs Scott asked his college roommate to help him do a 2 man job. The duo completed that day of work and received a handful of cash for their hard work, upon which they realized they may be on to something… A Student Moving Company which they named Strong College Students Inc “Movers with Knowledge”.

The team ran the company while attending school full-time and getting help from friends, fraternity brothers, and other hard working students at The University of South Florida. They marketed, answered phone calls, hired, trained, and educated themselves on all facets of the moving industry. Upon graduation from USF the entrepreneurs had 8 students on staff; they decided to run the company full-time rather than pursue graduate degrees and challenge themselves to see where they could take this simple idea.

The team faced tremendous adversity to keep the company running and operating, neither Shaun nor Scott where business majors. Scott was a psychology major and Shaun majored in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. Adversity became a way of life for the team; the mere idea of the business model created may pitfalls and challenges. They had no formal business education, no experience in the moving industry, and no experience starting, running, or operating a business. The challenges where stacked against them to start. To overcome this first set of challenges the entrepreneurs did exactly what they knew how to do, they educated themselves and used the resources of the University library, the Small Business Development Center, and did comparative analysis of the moving industry. They learned where and what the flaws in the industry where, listened to customer feedback, and built their brand around the problems and stereotypes of movers and the moving industry.

This simple plan seemed to work for the first few years and helped organize the company to grow from simply a moving labor company comprised of a college student workforce to grow into what the brand Strong College Students Moving is known for today. A full service commercial and residential moving company which provides a Friendly, Polite, Professionally Trained & Uniformed Student Movers. This wasn’t the first time this idea had been tried several other companies across the country started as student moving companies however the challenge of working with students lead them to keep the name and abandon the student workforce element. They started as student based moving companies but as they grew they left the student aspect behind in pursuit of market share and more revenue.

This lead Shaun & Scott to dedicate themselves & their brand to the hardworking staff establishing the vision of Empowering students with the opportunity to balance employment with the rigor of college life. They wanted to establish more than a moving company rather a business that would help and assist students in their pursuit of higher education. A company that could help break the stereotypes about college students; they wanted to showcase the diligent, hardworking, empowering nature of college students and developed the company values around Leadership Development, Community Service, Physical Fitness, and Education.

By focusing on these ideals and highlighting the positive elements of students the team believed they could work around the challenges of an entire college student workforce. To keep this idea a reality they developed strategies around the challenges of employing college students. They had to overcome the high turnover, full part-time staff, training challenges, class schedules, finals, and semester’s breaks for the holidays. To offset these challenges the company’s structure and corporate identity where molded and conformed to operate through each of the problems above.

The adversity the company faced from its inception assisted in creating a cohesive operating system that enabled Founder Scott Bedell to step down as president to pursue other passions in May 1, 2009. Shaun Robinson has stepped up as CEO and President and will be guiding the company’s future. This shift in organization has been one of the most difficult to overcome, establishing new operational procedures to further improve and simplify the business model. While also assisting staff during the adjustment of an owner and founder’s departure. Adversity has helped shape the business into what it’s become today and the test of new diverse challenges shall continue to mold the success of Strong College Students future. We’re proud of the difficult challenges we’ve faced; each problem has taught us more and enabled us to push the envelope further towards what we believe this company will grow to become.

Shaun C. Robinson CEO & President of Strong College Students was just awarded the 2009 Outstanding Young Alumnus for the University of South Florida! Congratulations Shaun for your dedication to your Alma mater, your student staff, and your local community! GO BULLS

"Working as a Strong College Student has been a great experience! I met a doctor on one of the moves I did, and he was able to set me up with a summer internship! Other than that, I love the people I work with, and the tips are great for a last minute college student like myself."
-Victor Ramierez

"I love the fact that everyday is different, and I get paid to work out!"
-Patrick Atkinson

I'm thankful I had a place like Strong College Students and employers who cared about my education, I wouldn't of been able to achieve my dream of a Degree with out this job. Thank you"
-William Cooper

This is the Ultimate College Job! It's such a nice break from the stress of my class load.

-Jason Rappaport

I love this job!

-Anthony Shortt

No other employer cared more about my classes but also gave me so much opportunity, thanks Shaun!

-Theo Blake

Its amazing to see what this company has become, its a true testament to their work ethic, desire, and drive... Well Done

-Fernando Schwatz

Over 120 students have been conferred with the title of Strong College Student each of them have a unique story and have blessed this company with there passion and hard work. Thank you to all of you, you all have helped make Strong College Students not only what it is today but what it will become in the future near and far...

CEO

Shaun C. Robinson